Monday, August 29, 2011

If you’ve done nothing wrong, there’s nothing to be frightened of…

Edit: I keep meaning to add that Pastor Mike wrote his piece about a year ago and nobody noticed until people like PZ picked it up recently. Since getting all that attention, Pastor Mike has made his blog private, so that only his friends can read it. I’ve pasted the entire text of his post at the bottom of this one.

It’s a brave move for someone who wants atheists on a public list so he can hassle and discriminate against them. He already restricted comments to members, ensuring nobody said anything he didn’t approve of. Now he doesn’t want anyone even reading the blog unless they already agree with what it says. Brave indeed. Pastor Mike, you can always comment here if you want to explain your actions.

This guy wants a (US) national registry of atheists. Why would this be of any use or interest to anyone at all?

Registering atheists like Richard Dawkins ( above ) would at least let people know who - and WHERE - they reside

(emphasis his)

Sorry, Pastor Mike, I’m still not sure I follow. Why would you want to know that? I suppose at least Pastor Mike might learn that Richard Dawkins doesn’t live in America, but I’m pretty sure everyone else knew that anyway. Fortunately, Pastor Mike further explains his reasoning:

And we’re straight into the assertion that atheists are directly comparable to sex offenders. Is there really a national registry for terrorist cells? You’d think that would make counter-terrorism quite easy. Just look up the cells on the register and you’re done.

I’m not convinced at the usefulness of national registers for sex offenders (or at least, publicly accessible ones), but at least there’s an argument to be made about protecting the public. What protection does Pastor Mike feel he needs from atheists?

Well, he doesn’t say. This is because his real reason for wanting to register atheists is so he can harass them and encourage people to boycott their businesses.

Now , many (especially the atheists ) , may ask "Why do this , what's the purpose ?"Duhhh , Mr. Atheist , for the same purpose many States put the names and photos of convicted sex offenders and other ex-felons on the I-Net - to INFORM the public ! I mean , in the City of Miramar , Florida , where I live , the population is approx. 109,000 . My family and I would sure like to know how many of those 109,000 are ADMITTED atheists ! Perhaps we may actually know some . In which case we could begin to witness to them and warn them of the dangers of atheism . Or perhaps they are radical atheists , whose hearts are as hard as Pharaoh's , in that case , if they are business owners , we would encourage all our Christian friends , as well as the various churches and their congregations NOT to patronize them as we would only be "feeding" Satan .

Pastor Mike, sex offender registries are indeed – rightly or not - about informing the public. Informing them of potential dangers. They aren’t there to provide the public with a list of people to discriminate against and harass. That’s why access to those lists is usually tightly controlled.

Frankly , I don't see why anyone would oppose this idea - including the atheists themselves ( unless of course , they're actually ashamed of their atheist religion , and would prefer to stay in the 'closet.' ) .

Pastor Mike has already made the reasons pretty clear. There’s every reason to be scared of Pastor Mike and his fellow thugs. They already think we’re basically the same as sex offenders and criminals. They already want to boycott our businesses and relentlessly preach to us or shun us. And this is before they’ve even got started with the list. We don’t have to be ashamed of our atheism to be concerned about your nutjob agenda, particularly in a country where crimes against atheists are unlikely to be met with much sympathy by the police and courts.

Part of that agenda, of course, is to try make us ashamed by trying to marginalise us with local communities. To shame us into professing belief. And if we don’t - Pastor Mike threatens - he’ll try to put us out of business. Not because he doesn’t want people to be atheists, but because he doesn’t want anyone to be allowed to say they’re atheists.

I’m not ashamed of being an atheist and Pastor Mike can put me on his list if he wants. I think I’m pretty safe from his disgusting plan here.

Pastor Mike’s original post

Brothers and Sisters , I have been seriously considering forming a (Christian ) grassroots type of organization to be named “The Christian National Registry of Atheists” or something similar . I mean , think about it . There are already National Registrys for convicted sex offenders , ex-convicts , terrorist cells , hate groups like the KKK , skinheads , radical Islamists , etc..

This type of “National Registry” would merely be for informationpurposes . To inform the public of KNOWN ( i.e., self-admitted) atheists . For example , let’s say you live in Colorado Springs , Colorado , you could simply scroll down ( from the I-Net site /Blog ) I would have , to the State of Colorado , and then when you see “Colorado Springs” , you will see the names of all the self-admitted atheist(s) who live there ( e.g., if an atheist’s name happened to be “Phil Small” ) . The individual’s physical address , and other known personal information would NOT be disclosed ( though , perhaps a photo could be ) .

Now , many (especially the atheists ) , may ask “Why do this , what’s the purpose ?” Duhhh , Mr. Atheist , for the same purpose many States put the names and photos of convicted sex offenders and other ex-felons on the I-Net – to INFORM the public ! I mean , in the City of Miramar , Florida , where I live , the population is approx. 109,000 . My family and I would sure like to know how many of those 109,000 are ADMITTED atheists ! Perhaps we may actually know some . In which case we could begin to witness to them and warn them of the dangers of atheism . Or perhaps they are radical atheists , whose hearts are as hard as Pharaoh’s , in that case , if they are business owners , we would encourage all our Christian friends , as well as the various churches and their congregations NOT to patronize them as we would only be “feeding” Satan .

Frankly , I don’t see why anyone would oppose this idea – including the atheists themselves ( unless of course , they’re actually ashamed of their atheist religion , and would prefer to stay in the ‘closet.’ ) .

3 comments:

For what its worth , I have abandoned the entire idea and have no desire to do any "atheist list." It was written mostly in parody ( jokingly ). Instead , I am simply going to continue praying for the salvation of all the lost.

Second, if the post was a parody, what was it a parody *of*? A parody imitates a style or a type of argument or a particular person. I don't understand why what you wrote was a parody. Likewise, if you meant 'joke' rather than 'parody' then I'm not sure I see the punchline. What is funny about encouraging people to discriminate against atheists?

Third, I'm sorry to hear that you're receiving hate mail. I've had my fair share and it isn't fun. Of course, a certain amount of anger is an understandable response to a suggestion which was plainly hateful in the first place: a call to discriminate against people because they don't believe what you do.

Fourth, exactly what point do you feel that hate mail validates? This is an especially pertinent question since you insist the post was a joke or parody in the first place. I just find it confusing: what point?

Fifth, why did you suddenly make your blog private?

Sixth, you didn't answer any of the points in my post. It would be great if you did or if you answered this comment.

You'd be treated with respect and I'd answer your answers point to point without hyperbole, strawmen or other fallacious reasoning.

I hope you'd like to engage even though you've abandoned that specific plan. I think it will be constructive and you can certainly cross-post everything to your own blog if you like. All I ask is that you confirm you're the real Pastor Mike by replying to my email.